Chapter Twenty-Four
Ladybug swung her yo-yo latching onto the other side of the Louvre.
"You ready?" She asked her feline partner.
Pulling out his baton, he gave his lady a nod.
"As I'll ever be."
The two heroes sprung into action each landing on an opposite side of their opponents. As Chat Noir landed he dropped and rolled to the right avoiding a strike from his auntie. She seemed to be able to fire the blazes willingly and for the first time since he became Chat Noir, Adrien was actually feeling scared.
As much as they understood, their suits were pretty indestructible, however it wasn't something either hero was willing to try out.
"Chat, you head for the sceptre. I'll hold of Amelie."
Chat nodded his understanding to Ladybug before running towards the entrance to the Louvre. Sprinting on all fours helped him to increase his speed to an almost humane level. As he dodged the strikes from Set and Amelie he finally found himself jumping over the railings in the Louvre and begin his search for the hidden article.
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Ladybug could see Set heading towards her kitty, meaning she only had to keep Amelie at bay whilst Chat was doing the hard work within the building. Amelie once again produced an all encompassing white glow around her. As Ladybug moved forward she began to preempt what was about to happen. Amelie's hand raised as though Ladybug was her target, however as the light shot out Ladybug managed to fly over the strike and land on the opposite side.
Amelie wasn't quick enough to change her own position as Ladybug wrapped her yo-yo tightly around the woman's body.
"I am Redemption, and I will make you and that stray pay for the problems you've caused in Paris." Amelie spoke in a low, deep voice sounding even more possessed than she looked.
Ladybug looked her over, from her head to her toes looking for where an akuma could be hiding. She had no doubt this was an akumanisation. The look and the attack of Amelie was nothing like any of the Egyptian Gods Hugo had told them about. There was no way she was the same as Set.
Without warning Amelie yanked her arms away from her body loosening Ladybug's grip around her. Trying to maintain her advantage, Ladybug released her wings and hovered above the floor, retracting her yoyo and hopefully getting some high up advantage over Amelie.
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Chat Noir, meanwhile, was heading towards the Egyptian display. The Louvre was now silent. A guess was it had been emergency evacuated to the akuma shelters underneath the main floors of the building. Luckily, his cat like senses helped keep his noise to a minimum. As he snuck his way into the exhibit an immense sound echoed through the corridors. Chat quickly hid behind a statue as the sound of a heavy footfall surrounded him.
"I know you're in here Cat! You may think you're a God to all Egyptians, but you are nothing to me. I am the only God." As Set advanced on the exhibition a scream was heard outside. Chat's first instinct kicked in and terrified him. That couldn't be his lady. Could it? He began to edge his hand towards the baton resting on his lower back. If he could reach that then hopefully he'll be able to contact Ladybug and check she's alright. He was quite sure with the last upgrades he could access her yoyo without her having to answer a call.
His hand slowly stretched and bent around to his middle back before sliding its way downwards. Down to where he knew his weapon was situated and positioned. For seven years he'd stretched this same way. For seven years he'd grabbed the baton from the same position on his back. For seven years he had no issues with moving swiftly with great agility. But today this all ended. The fear of his lady being hurt made he move more swift than he usually would. Today was the day his bad luck finally caught up on him. As his hand met the metal material, it slipped. Chat couldn't believe he'd messed up. In seven years he'd never felt so helpless.
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Ladybug had managed to get a couple of good hits against Redemption causing the akuma to shout out and scream. She needed to think though quickly. She needed something to trap her so she could look for the item again. What did she know about Adrien's aunt that would help her search for the akuma? She thought back to what Emilie had told them about her sister. She was in a rehabilitation centre in London. The last they had heard she was on lockdown and scared incase she hurt herself or anyone else around her.
"The jacket." An idea shot through Ladybug's head. She was put in a straight jacket to calm her when she became flustered. The thought encouraged Ladybug to call her lucky charm.
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Chat Noir's baton was edging towards the floor and his breath held ready for the clattering sound of metal against stone. Closing his eyes he braced himself for the first hit of Set. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. Four. No noise came. As Chat opened his eyes, a sight blessed his eyes. Hugo was hovering in front of him holding the entire weight of the baton in his tiny stub like paws.
Without speaking Chat relayed his thanks to his young prodigy with a nod of the head and a bright smile. Hugo nodded in return before coming to hover beside him. Standing as still as the statue in front on him, Chat tracked Set's movements with his eyes. This battle between the two of them was becoming personal.
Whilst Ladybug had began to make her final moves against Redemption, Chat began to follow Set's movements through the museum. Trying to remain as quiet as possible he kept low to the ground and began to make his ascent onto his equal God of Destruction. For some reason he believed this was going to become a kill or be killed situation.
The gap between Chat and Set was closing in, and to be honest Chat had no plan running through his head. He literally had about ten seconds to figure out what he was going to do or he was most likely going to be ending up skinned. Hugo remained next to him, being the additional line of defence until his Lady joined along side him. God he hoped she wasn't going to be too much longer.
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The lucky charm dropped into Ladybugs hands and she looked at it. What was she going to do with a sponge? Looking around nothing was setting into motion. Did she need to wet it, or was it for something else? Before she could continue thinking a ray of light shot towards her, sending her into the sky like a gust of wind. Looping through a forward roll she managed to land behind Redemption and prepare her next stance of attack.
Suddenly, an idea hit her. She made a quick attack on Redemption, slotting the sponge underneath the clips for her straight jacket before running towards the Seine. Just before Ladybug had hit the water she'd managed to eat an upgrade. Landing in the water, she had fins, the ability to breathe and the ability to see under the water. Unfortunately Redemption didn't. As the sponge began to soak up the unclean water from the river it expanded in size. Growing bigger and bigger and bigger, until it snapped open the jacket.
A purple butterfly released its self under the water.
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Chat leapt forward onto Set's back, taking him down in a flurry of surprise and weight. As Chat used all the muscle he had to keep the Egyptian God down, it didn't take long to be over thrown. Set lift up sending Chat backwards across the hallway and into the opposite wall. Luckily he'd missed majority of the artefacts and antiques, creating a Chat like silhouette in the plaster. As he dropped down towards the floor he felt himself being pulled straight back up. His eyes closed tightly in preparation of the second hit only for it not to happen.
"Hello M'Lady." He found himself in Ladybugs arms as she jumped away from one of Set's strikes.
He was now advancing on the two heroes, face full of anger and annoyance. Dropping Chat onto his feet, Ladybug and Chat held their usual choreographed defence position. They were in this together. The two of them against the world. As much as they loved having a team to rely on, when it came down to it, it was the duo who made things happen.
All at once the battle began. As Set attacked, each hero tried to play an organised defence. One step forward equalled in one step back. Ladybug taking the high attacks as Chat concentrated on the low. Together they began to move Set back out of the building. His attack began to boil as Chat called his 'Cataclysm' and for the second time, managed to disintegrate Set's sceptre.
"Chat! We need to get him away from the exhibition! Can you grab the artefact as I lead him outside?" Ladybug continued her strikes with her yo-yo. Even though she was making clean and hard hits, Set's strength pulled them away, with Ladybug attached.
Chat was no where to be seen when Ladybug finally lured Set to the entrance of the museum. Swinging herself out and landing not too far from the evacuated staff.
"You need to get out the way." Ladybug called to the crowd surrounding the area. Each person reacted to Ladybugs warning, moving away from the battle and the impending attacks waiting to be launched.
"You'll pay Bug! Your cat is causing me more and more problems." Set began to stalk towards Ladybug summoning an electric energy between his hands. A flashback took over Ladybug. She'd been in this situation before.
Peering down at her own hands a feeling overwhelmed her. One that she hadn't felt since she went head to head with Felix all those months ago. Red sparkles began to wined around her hands and a power coursed to the tips of her fingers. Pushing her hands towards Set, he was hit with a mass of ladybugs. Engulfing his body and picking him up. Ladybug continued to concentrate on Set, pushing her arms violently to the side. Set was taken by the ladybugs into the side building of the Louvre.
"You mess with my cat, you mess with me too!" Walking towards him, Ladybug began to recall her power into her fingers.
"Bugaboo! Come on let's get out of here. I've got it." Chat ran up to his love and touched her shoulder. The power she was radiating pulsed through her suit and scorched Chat's hand. Taking a step back he looked into her eyes. Her dark, black eyes.
"Princess." He whispered.
She continued her advance on a dazed Set. He was lying defeated in the floor with one hand on his head, as the other attempted to create a new current of power, to not much success.
With a quick scoop of her hands a power circulated again striking Set and ultimately, knocking him unconscious.
"Marinette! Stop!" Chat dived into Ladybug taking her down. Luckily no one around was in a state where they could hear her name. As Ladybug looked up at her soul mate on top of her she frowned. What had she done? Or more to the point, what had she almost done? It was against their beliefs to kill anyone, yet she'd only been a couple of movements away from her first death.
Grabbing the Lucky Charm off the floor, Chat Noir passed it to his partner.
"You know what you need to do." He looked at a bewildered blunette standing in front of him. She took the charm without loosing eye contact and threw it into the air. As the surround of ladybugs swept the scene she didn't take her eyes off him. He looked concerned and slightly frightened.
"Come on." He grabbed her hand before leading her home. They needed to talk.
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